During my walk down 21st Ave, I came across two Portland Modern employees sitting outside for a smoke break. Their clothing and style caught my eye, and it turned out they were wearing clothes from the store and talking to each other in fake accents. They were really fun people and were nice enough to let me take a bunch of portraits of them. When I was done I gave them each my card and they introduced themselves as Scott and Mariel. I told them to e-mail me for copies and Mariel was very skeptical. She made me promise that I would actually reply to her e-mail, and I did! I e-mailed her photos right after she contacted me, so I hope she’s happy with them.

At one point Mariel offered me a drag of her cigarette, and when I declined, saying that I didn’t smoke, she said “I’ve never met a photographer who didn’t smoke,” which I found humorous. Ok, let’s get to the photos!

I took this quick shot of their legs (right) last minute and fell in love with it. Amazing how much expression you can get from legs and hands, isn’t it?They continued talking in their accents as I took photos, so I call this a “conversation diptych”Then I asked for a few of them looking at me. They were naturals! Mariel:Scott:

Our hotel was closest to Portland’s Nob Hill district in northwest Portland. I spent one early afternoon walking up and down 23rd and 21st avenue taking photos and browsing some shops.

Went to a cool coffee shop called Coffee Time on 21st avenue. Awesome rock & roll painted outdoor tables:I photographed the barista (left), and a man from San Francisco (right) sitting near a table lamp. We had a quick conversation about photography (since I had my camera around my neck) and then I asked him to pose, and he went right into deep stare mode. Silly self-portrait in the graffiti-filled Coffee Time bathroom.

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Madera at my uncle’s house. My cousin Briana goes to UCSC now, so we picked her up from campus and were on our way! We spent 2 nights there and enjoyed relaxing by the fireplace and eating delicious traditional food. mmm mmm good.

We brought our dog Joya along, so there were dogs of plenty who became my photographic subjects throughout the stay. Let’s start with the fam:

Let the festivities begin!
Dog walk to digest…and feel a little bit better about ourselves after the feast.